Lori Lopez, a professor of communication arts and the director of the Asian American Studies program, has been named the College of Letters & Science’s new academic associate dean for the social sciences. She will take over later this month from Greg Downey, an Evjue-Bascom Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication who has served in the role for the last decade.
“We are excited to welcome Professor Lopez to the Dean’s Leadership Team,” says Dean of the College of Letters & Science, Eric Wilcots. “She brings with her tremendous passion for community-based research within the social sciences and an appreciation for cross-disciplinary efforts at the College and campus levels. Her eagerness to tackle difficult challenges and her experience on the L&S Academic Planning Committee, co-leading the DEI Committee and serving as the Asian American Studies director have positioned her well to lead the social sciences division.”
Lopez earned her doctorate in communication from the University of Southern California in 2012. She joined UW–Madison and the Department of Communication Arts shortly thereafter, and she is also affiliated with the Asian American Studies Program and the Department of Gender & Women’s Studies. Much of her academic research has focused on the ways in which minority groups, particularly Asian Americans, use media to fight for social justice. She published a book in 2023 called Race and Digital Media: An Introduction, in which she examined the phenomenon during the social media age. Her most recent research project explores the connections between rising representation of Asian Americans in entertainment media and a spike in hatred and violence toward them as a group.
For Lopez, a new role as part of Dean Wilcots’ leadership team represents the next step in a process she’s been building the past several years — gradually shifting her focus from teaching to administration.
“Over the last few years, I’ve become really interested in gaining a wider perspective on the University and how it operates,” she says. “I hope this leadership role will help put me in a position to be able to more meaningfully influence things like policies, programs and the overall direction of the College.”
Lopez assumes her role at a time when UW–Madison is moving toward a new budget model, and one of her responsibilities will be helping to guide the 18 departments, programs and schools that comprise the social sciences division through that process.
“We’re also in a challenging political moment, where institutions of higher education are under high scrutiny and face many kinds of attacks,” Lopez says. “I like to think I operate best under pressure, so I’ll just keep channeling my inner zen when the going gets tough.”
Lopez has won multiple awards and fellowships during her time at UW–Madison, including the Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Teaching Award in 2020, the H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship in 2022, and the UW System Board of Regents’ Diversity Award in 2023.
Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging have always been particularly important to Lopez. She served as co-chair of the College of Letters & Science’s DEI Committee, working alongside Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion DeVon Wilson, and co-chaired UW–Madison’s Campus Diversity & Climate Committee for the last two years.
“One of the things that made me want to join Dean Wilcots’ leadership team is that I’m really excited about his strategic priorities,” Lopez says. “I’m a practitioner of engaged scholarship and community-based research partnerships, so I think that experience will help me identify growth areas for those initiatives.”
Lopez believes her experiences with both large departments and smaller programs in the College give her an important perspective she can share with department chairs and administrators as they navigate personnel and budgetary challenges.
“We often assume there’s only one way to do things, but of course the reality is each unit has its own norms and cultures and reasons for doing things a certain way,” Lopez explains. “Those varied experiences have also helped me understand how certain systems have become entrenched, what it might take to inspire change, and how to get people out of their silos to really learn from each other.”
Greg Downey, who will continue to mentor Lopez as she assumes her new role, is confident she’ll make a strong addition to Dean Wilcots’ leadership team.
“Lori brings exceptional interdisciplinary research, teaching and service experience to the role, with a record of successful leadership at the program, college and campus levels,” says Downey. “Even more than that, though, I think her intellectual curiosity, courage and commitment to inclusive excellence are going to be key creative assets on behalf of all our social sciences faculty, staff and students in the years ahead.”